By An Anonymous Student
Deep breath filled with salty escape,
I walk down the aged wooden steps.
Each flight down gifts a soft breeze.
Rocks welcome my last step,
smooth and chilled, padded by satin seaweed.
The calm lucid lake
shines a smile back at me.
To my left a weathered wooden kayak
nestled under the trees
calls for an adventure.
My hand slides across the glossy frame,
contoured with pieces of trees united into fitted strips.
I pull it to the shoreline
where the waves kiss the wood
and push off.
The sound of water hugging the paddle
sends ripples of goosebumps across my skin
as the swells carry me.
Time meaningless, but sanctuary surrounding,
I could drift forever.
But forever doesn’t care, and time is heard.
I paddle back to shore,
and step out onto the rocks, but the water clutches my ankles
whispering to stay.
I can’t listen.
I drown out the calls to leave,
but I take one last look back, for mental snapshot.
The leaves curl goodbye and the breeze pushes my depart.
I walk up the steps and part my escape for reality.